God of War: The Coming of Doom
by The Burning Writer
Summary: With Fimbulwinter raging Atreus, Kratos, and the severed head of Mimir are busy just surviving and no longer dealing with the Gods. But when Atreus has a nightmare of strange creatures unknown to him invading Midgard, they are forced into yet another adventure. This one taking them to places unknown, and one that will be fought with an ally who is more mysterious than Kratos.
1. Chapter 1

Scandinavia, a diverse land. With many mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and grasslands. That diversity also includes those who reside within its lands. Ranging from small rats, to wolves and bears, to even that of monsters such as Trolls, Draugr, and the large Dragons who soar through the skies of these lands. With such diversity, one would think it's easy to get lost in those lands. Then when you take into account that Scandinavia resides within the Realm called "Midgard", which lays at the center of the World Tree among the other Nine Realms, one would think that it's _even harder_ to be found in the forests of Scandinavia. But a group of three knew how to get the attention of almost every powerful being in the Nine Realms by simply attempting to climb a mountain. But thanks to the winter that had fallen over the land, no one cared to find them once more.

Fimbulwinter is what they called it. The winter to end all winters, the winter that signals the end of times is coming, the winter that brings forth Ragnarök. This winter sent people into hiding, hoping they'd be able to live to see the sun rise after the end of everything. But one man, his son, and a little bit of another man did not care about the winter. In fact, the man did not believe it was Fimbulwinter that had come. He only thought it was a long winter. One he had to prepare for so he and his son could live to see summer come. Kratos inspected the tree in front of him. It stood tall, a good sign. It meant that the bark was healthy. His son Atreus inspected it as well, only seeing a tree. His father had yet to teach him how to pick the best trees for gathering firewood, so right now this tree was just a really tall tree in the boy's eyes. Meanwhile the head of Mimir, which Atreus held in his hands so his father could work more freely, spoke up after a moment of silence "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you _intentionally_ chop a tree down."

Kratos reached behind his back and pulled out the Leviathan Axe, a mystic weapon gifted to him by his late wife Faye. As he did the Ghost of Sparta glanced at Mimir "Then I suggest you watch carefully."

Kratos gripped the Axe's hilt with both of his hands before tapping its blade against the side of the tree in front of him. He was feeling for a week spot, and as he did Atreus watched intently. He too has never seen Kratos intentionally chop a tree down. After finding a spot just soft enough to chop through, Kratos pulled back, and was able to cleave the Axe right through the entire trunk of the tree. With several crunching and groaning sounds, the tree began to fall over. Kratos stepped back and Atreus did the same as it fell forwards instead of towards the two and a half of them. Kratos glanced at Mimir once again before putting the Axe back into its holster before heading over to the side of the fallen tree to pick it up. As he did that a small flake of snow fell from the sky and landed on the top of Mimir's severed head "Was wondering when the Fimbulwinter snow falls would pick up again."

The Ghost of Sparta picked up the trunk of the tree with his bare hands and held it over his head as he said "This is no different from any other winter I have gone through. It will simply be another winter like all others."

Mimir scoffed just slightly "Sure, you say that now, but two and a half years into the three year long _'end of all winters'_ your tune will be changing fast."

Kratos just rolled his eyes as he motioned for Atreus to put Mimir back onto his spot on the God's belt, after that he said "Follow boy, this tree will be enough to keep the house warm for a few weeks at least."

Atreus nodded as they began to make their way back towards the house. These woods have almost been explored to the very last subterranean caverns that lows below their very feet. So they knew how to get back home from where they were nice and easy. As they walked the branches of the tree trunk that had not fallen off upon impact with the ground fell to the ground. Atreus even picked one up and began to pretend he was swinging an imaginary axe around like his father would. Mimir saw this, as he was facing away from the direction they were walking, and he even commented on it "You know, we might just have to get you a weapon to defend yourself from enemies that get a bit to close for comfort for yourself and your da."

Kratos quickly said "Atreus's knife is sufficient enough to defend himself, and he is skilled with his bow. He is safe."

If Mimir could he'd nod while saying "Aye, that's true. But Atreus is a growing boy, eventually he'll need more than a knife to keep himself safe from a Draugr that manages to sneak up behind him."

Atreus quickly added "I've always liked the idea of using a spear!"

"See! All we're saying is that you shouldn't be ruling out the option of getting the kid a bigger weapon when _he_ gets bigger."

The boy nodded as Kratos sighed "Very well... When the day comes, we will see about getting him a better weapon for close quarters defense. But right now, we have other things to deal with."

As he finished, they began to approach the front of the wooden shack they called home. Kratos effortlessly tossed the tree over to the area he chopped all of the firewood before looking over to Atreus "Boy, make sure there are no branches sticking off of it any longer. If you find any, create a pile separate from where the firewood is placed so we can use it as fuel."

Atreus nodded before Kratos began to head inside. Once inside and with the door closed behind him, Kratos took the Leviathan Axe out and began to approach a stone he used to sharpen the weapon's blade. Upon picking it up, Kratos took Mimir off of the back of his belt before sitting down on a wooden chair to begin sharpening the blade of the Axe. While the sound of metal being scrapped against a stone filled the house, Mimir sniffled a little "The straw you use for insulation in your roof is messing with my allergies."

Kratos didn't look at the head as he said "If you do not enjoy the affects the straw is having on your body you can leave."

"Does it look like I can brother?"

The God glanced at Mimir with a bit of a smirk, making the head realize what Kratos was getting at "Fair enough, I'll just stomach through it. After all, the tree my body was trapped inside of did so many worse things to... All of me."

Kratos wasn't paying attention. He continued to sharpen his blade while Mimir spoke. After a while Atreus would come inside and proudly say "Finished father!"

The boy's father set the sharpening stone aside and looked at him "Good. Keep the fire going while I chop the wood."

He nods before Kratos stands up and heads outside to do as he said. Mimir was left inside with Atreus. After a while of the sound of wood being chopped by Kratos and nothing much else, the severed head of a God said "No offense, but this house is a little drafty even when the three of us are in here at the same time.."

Atreus nods "It's been like that since mother died. I think it was part of me and father's grieving process. Mother always brought a happiness when she was in here. But... It feels like the house is starting to feel more.. _Alive_ again now that we completed her last wish."

Mimir took on an agreed face as he said "True, true. I just think that we could use a pet or two."

The boy looked over his shoulder as he stocked the flames of the built in fire pit "How so?"

The head continued "Not sure, maybe it's because I've always wanted a pet. But, of course, being in my line of work makes it hard to take care of another living creature, let alone myself."

As he finished the door opened up and Kratos walked in holding a bundle of firewood under his arm. He set the Axe in a holster built into a wooden poke that kept the roof up as he walked towards the fire "We have enough wood to last for three weeks. Each bundle should last a full day."

Mimir grinned a little "That means we have twenty one whole bundles of firewood."

Atreus stood up and dusted off the front of his pants as Kratos placed the bundle of wood he had under his arm into the fire pit. While that happened the boy said "I know how to count Mimir."

The head chuckled a little "That's true! Just making sure that noggin of your's is still sharp!"

Kratos watched as the newly added logs of wood began to catch fire before turning to face the two "Atreus, I am going to go hunting. Remain here with the head."

The boy nodded before Kratos began to prepare to hunt for some food. After he left, and after an hour or so of Atreus playing with the wooden toys his mother had made, Atreus would sit down on his bed and yawn a little "Mimir, do you think you could keep an eye out for an intruder while I take a quick nap?"

Mimir, once again, would've nodded "Sure thing! Despite not having any lungs, I can still scream loud enough to wake up the dead."

Atreus nodded before laying down on his bed, placing his head on the pillow, and falling asleep. One thing Atreus doesn't understand is that after the end of his and Kratos's adventure to spread Fey's ashes across the tallest peak of all the Realms, the boy has been having dreams that feel so... Vivid. It started with Thor arriving at their house with a strong thunderstorm accompanying him, then it was a dream where Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, disappeared only to see himself opening a wooden crate and dumping whatever it was that was inside of it into the Lake of Nine. But it usually happened whenever something makes him start thinking of certain things. The Thor dream started because he remembered the death of Magni and Modi, the sons of Thor. The dream about Jörmungandr came about because he saw a small snake dying during a hunting trip with his father. But this dream he was about to have, it was not triggered by a memory or something he saw. It was triggered by something else.

Atreus's dream took him someplace surprising, it took him up the tallest mountain in all of Midgard. The same mountain that him and his father met Mimir on, and where their quest to get into Jötunheim began. Atreus found his dream showing him the large stone gate that was once the last known gate to Jötunheim until him and Kratos unearthed another gate in the Lake of Nine. Despite this only being a dream, he could feel heat coming from the inactive gate. It was a strong heat, the snow surrounding the gate almost up to the tree Mimir's body still resided within was melted and a dry wind blew over the top of the mountain. He watched as strange foreign runes began to appear all along the stone gate. Strange green energy glowed through the runes and it arched off of the engravings like lighting, they sparked and crackled violently as the warmth grew all around the mountain top. A blast of dry wind came out of the gate and its heat caused Mimir's tree to wither and die instantly. Then, in a flash of red light, a portal opened up inside of the gate that emitted an even stronger heat that would just continue to grow hotter and hotter.

Then, as the dream began to take Atreus towards the portal, something began to walk out of it. The creature was large, larger than Kratos but smaller than a Troll, its legs were unlike any other he's seen, and sadly the dream wouldn't let him see its full body. As more, smaller than the creature who would be larger than Kratos, began to follow the creature out of the portal Atreus passed them and went into the portal. It was no surprise to find himself in Jötunheim once again, but what he was surprised to find was how hot the Realm had become. The sky was filled with red clouds and strange yellow lightning cracked and boomed through the sky. From atop the highest peak in Jötunheim Atreus could see the bodies of the deceased Jötnar, except wooden and stone bridges linked the bodies together, strange structures both sat atop their bodies and protruded out from inside of them, other bridges went from one of the mountains near a dead Jötnar to a passage built into the body of one, and strange creatures walked these paths and around the buildings.

Another thing that could be seen is that the strange, almost unnatural, heat that now loomed over Jötunheim had melted all of the snow and evaporated all of the fog that could've been seen from the mountain peak. This lack of fog allowed Atreus to see that, far off in the distance, the lands of Jötunheim were being changed from the almost orange and brown rocky terrain it was supposed to be into these jagged, red, cracked, and evil mountains. The storm over those terrains was worse than the storm that was over the normal terrain of the Realm, lighting struck every peak of ever jagged mountain, and it looked as if it were slowly inching forwards to engulf more of Jötunheim so it could all become like those horrible mountains. Then suddenly, the storm over Atreus's head grew worse. All of the creatures walking those paths between the dead Jötnar looked skyward as lightning struck the side of this one mountain to the boy's left. Over and over again, the lightning struck and pieces of the mountain began come off of it because of those bolts.

Atreus watched as something began to take form in the side of that mountain. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen or heard of. Whatever was being created by that lighting resembled the skull of a goat with long pointed horns that curved backwards. Once the shape was finished being created a circular, intricate, glowing, red rune appeared on its forehead before two balls of fire appeared in its eye sockets. The eyes looked around the lands before it, before eventually coming upon Atreus. Its sight lingered on the boy, and their eyes met, before a jolt of pain struck the back of his head as strange visions flashed before his eyes. He saw a landscape covered in blood, the body of something as large as a Jötnar laying at the center of the bleak and desolate lands.

Then he saw what looked to be a castle made of black bricks with lava and blood rolling down its sides, at the top was a ball of red energy that pulsated and had bolts of red energy come off like it were a cloud in a thunderstorm. The sight of a strange object that looked to be made of flesh and bone appeared before his eyes before a hand covered in strange dark green armor grabbed ahold of it. Hundreds upon thousands of intricate and foreign runes flashed through Atreus's vision as he saw various jagged and desolate landscapes flashed into existence, with the runes appearing over them as though they were looking through glass that had them carved onto, right at those lands.

Then suddenly, Atreus saw the mountain in Midgard, he saw a tunnel that had been carved into the side of it, the tunnel led deep into the mountain and into a room with various chests scattered around. Then finally, he saw a chamber hidden behind two large stone doors that had only a large stone contain that was stood upright. The container had a large rune on it that glowed red, but before he could get a good look at it, the face of the thing in the mountain appeared in front of him once more before speaking in this strange voice that sent chills down his spine.

He didn't know what it meant, he didn't know what language it even was, all he knew was that, at least in his mind, he knew how to spell the strange words. The letters almost appeared in front of his eyes, and they appeared to him as "אל תשכח" before he suddenly awoke screaming. His entire body felt cold, but his face felt burning like he had gone face first into the fire pit. When the boy awoke screaming Kratos, who had returned from hunting with a deer and was cooking it when Atreus woke up, quickly stood up and looked at his son with clear worry in his eyes "Atreus? What is wrong?"

Atreus looked to his father, tears in his eyes "I- I saw something in my dreams.. Horrible things.. I- I don't know what they were, th- they were coming out of Jötunheim and into Midgard, they were _everywhere_ in Jötunheim, th- they built bridges and tunnels into the Giants, o- one of them talked to me! I- I don't-"

Kratos walked over to Atreus's bed and knelt down in front of him before placing a hand on the boy's shoulder "It was only a nightmare. The creatures and things you saw within it are only as real as you let them be."

The boy's tears began to lessen as he nodded a little "Alright... B- But.. It felt so real, so vivid.. Just like the dream I had about Thor and-"

"And it too was only a dream. Thor has not come to us seeking a fight. And so long as I stand he will not come."

With that, Kratos stood up and returned to cooking. While he did that, Atreus wiped a few lingering tears away from his eyes as he glanced over to Mimir, who simply said "What your da said is true. Because, after all, no one can get into Jötunheim."

Atreus nodded as he brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, keeping them close. The thought of the strange words the creature spoke to him still sent shivers down his spine. Something about it just felt evil. The voice was unnatural, it didn't sound like a man's voice, it didn't sound like a woman's voice, it didn't sound like a boy's voice, and it didn't sound like a girl's voice. It was... It was some strange combination of all of them. It haunted Atreus's head. But, at least, the thought of eating fresh deer was taking his focus away from the nightmare and somewhere more positive.


	2. Chapter 2

Another day, another sunrise, and another several feet of snow Kratos had to shove away just so he could open the house's door. The memory of Atreus's nightmare had become a distant one in the minds of the three who lived in the house. Atreus remained inside of the house stoking the fire to keep himself warm, meanwhile, Kratos and Mimir were outside looking for more food. As they walked through the snow covered forest the only sound that could be heard was the sound of Kratos's feet crunching in the snow and the slight clinks of the various metal things that were attached to his clothing. But after a long half an hour of silence, Kratos eventually spoke up "Head. The things that Atreus described from his nightmare... Does any of it remind of you of something?"

Mimir thought about it a moment, going over all the things Atreus had said about his nightmare both the night he had it and the things he said during the morning of this very day "Hmmm... Not very sure. The dreams of children are rather mysterious and nonsensical. But, there _could_ be the possibility that Atreus had a vision of the future or of something that was happening at that moment, after all, the kid's half Giant and they are known for-"

"Their ability to see the future... That I am aware of."

The thoughts of how it almost seemed as if Fey had intentionally sent Kratos and Atreus on their journey just to find out that all of the Giants were dead. Or possibly... To kill Baldur. He still couldn't believe those thoughts. They were just coincidences. He wouldn't begin meddling with the lives and affairs of other Gods yet again. She had only wanted them to see the Giants and find out the truth. The Gods merley got in there way as they always do to both other Gods and mortals. The sound of Mimir speaking up again brought Kratos out of his thoughts "I'm not saying that Atreus saw something and we should be concerned. What I'm saying is that, as a growing half Giant boy, he could be seeing _some sort_ of future vision with details exaggerated because of that child mind of his."

Kratos nodded "Yes... You could be right."

Mimir let out a bit of a laugh "HA, wow, finally, getting the respect I deserve from Kratos!"

The Ghost of Sparta looked down at the head and he shut up immediately. A few hours later, they'd eventually find themselves staring down a boar. If it were the same boar that Freya was friends with or not, Kratos did not care. It was going to be their food. He took out the Leviathan Axe, held it up, and threw it with great force at the animal. Upon contact, the boar died from where it hit and fell to the ground. As Kratos stood up from his hiding spot behind a large rock, Mimir said "Never heard of, or seen, someone hunt an animal by throwing their axe at it. Although I'm pretty sure Thor killed some goats with his hammer once... Or that could be something I made up while drunk."

Kratos didn't really pay attention to what Mimir said, instead, he pulled the Axe out of the boar and picked it up. He then began to return home with the boar held up by one arm. As they grew closer to the house a strange heat could be felt by Kratos. But he just assumed that it was the blood of the boar accumulating into one spot and heating that area up. Then, Mimir said "Is it me or does it feel a little toasty?"

This forced Kratos to realize that the heat did not come from the boar. It was all around them, and it felt like a warm wind that blew over the cold landscape. It actually reminded him of Sparta... He didn't like this feeling "Yes. It does..."

With that, he began to hurry up now jogging through the snow. Once back at the house, Kratos dropped the boar onto the ground and made his way back inside. Upon entering he saw Atreus sitting on his bed playing with some of his wooden toys. The boy looked up at his father a little shocked before saying "That was fast."

Kratos made a head motion that signaled to Atreus to head outside with him. As the boy got up and began to walk outside with Kratos, he said "You've learned how to hunt and how to kill. But you have not learned how to make use of a kill."

He stopped in front of the boar "The point of hunting is to hone your skills but also to acquire food, an essential thing in your survival. Today, I want you learn how to make use of a kill. I want you to skin this boar so I can strip its meat for cooking."

Atreus looked up to Kratos, a little confused "But... I've never skinned an animal before."

His father nods "Yes. But you also did many things you never thought even possible not long ago."

Kratos was right. So after a moment of looking at the animal corpse, Atreus would pull out his knife and ask "So... How do I do this?"

The Ghost of Sparta knelt down and pointed to the boar's neck "You first want to slice open its neck so that we will not have to deal with having any blood remaining within its body at a latter point."

Atreus nodded and did as instructed before Kratos continued "Next you will need to cut the underside of the boar from its pelvic area to where you cut into its neck."

The boy nodded again and started the process, which would take some time. So, Kratos stood up and went back inside so he could place the Leviathan Axe in its wall holster for cleaning later. As he did that Mimir said "You know, sometimes the best way to teach is to show. Maybe if you had Atreus watch you skin a hog he'd learn faster."

Kratos took the head off of his belt and heald it up to look him in the eyes "Atreus learns best by doing, this much I've come to learn recently. It keeps him humble."

Mimir then said "Well... Yeah, that makes sense. Don't want a repeat of that little _'Modi incident'_ now do we?"

Kratos just glared at the head "I said that in poor taste."

Then suddenly, the sound of something jumping from the branches of a tree, landing on what sounded like flesh and bone, and the sound of Atreus yelling out in shock and surprise rang through the air. Kratos quickly threw Mimir onto a nearby table before using the Axe's magic to recall it to his hand as he sprinted outside "Boy! What is it!?"

He shoved the door open and stopped next to Atreus, who was lying on his back looking at the creature crouched down on top of the boar eating one of the animal's ears. Atreus just stammered out "I- I don't know!"

The creature turned its head and screeched at the two. The flesh of the boar's ear was stuck between its sharp teeth and blood trailed down the sides of its mouth. The creature itself had dark brownish skin, its hands and feet were caked in black ash, spikes came out of its back and shoulder blades, the creature's eyes glowed bright red, so bright to the point they looked almost white, and it had long sharp talons on its fingers. After screeching, the creature stuffed what was left of the boar's ear into its mouth before reaching down and starting to tare a chunk out of the animal's side. As that happened, Kratos said "Boy.. Get your bow."

Atreus nodded and quickly got up and scurried away, but in doing so, the creature quickly looked at them once again before leaping up into the air and climbing up the side of a nearby tree. Kratos held up his Axe and watched as the creature held up its right hand and green fire began to appear in its hand, then, it threw the ball of fire that appeared in the hand. Kratos quickly brought out his shield and blocked the projectile, but upon contact he felt an intense heat come through the metal. He pushed through the pain and put away his shield before throwing the Axe at the creature. It simply leaped down from the tree before it could hit it, and once on the ground the creature charged at Kratos. The Ghost of Sparta's first punch missed because of just how fast and nimble the creature was, but the second one took it by surprise as it was attempting to create a larger more powerful ball of green fire.

The creature took the full force of Kratos's fist into his jaw and a tooth was sent flying right out of its mouth with blood following close behind it, but still the creature stood, if not a little dazed. But before it could recover, the sound of Atreus loosing an arrow filled the air and the tip of an arrow pierced right through the back of the creature's skull and came out of its forehead. Blood ran down the front of its face and down the back of its neck before it fell limp and went face first into the snow covered ground. Kratos looked over the body of the creature and couldn't help but feel like it was incredibly foreign. Sure, most creatures he's fought in Scandinavia are foreign to him as he grew up hearing about and even fighting Greek creatures. But this one was different. He just didn't know how. As he looked over the creature, Atreus held Mimir up and asked "Do you know what that thing is?"

Mimir frowned "No, no I do not... I dare even say it's not of the Nine Realms."

Kratos looked at the head "That is impossible."

Mimir replied by saying "You thought a lot of things were impossible during our little escapade, how is this any different?"

The Ghost of Sparta just remained silent as he looked back down at the creature. Then suddenly, the sound of something screeching out again rang through their surroundings. It was a deeper, more guttural screech than the one of the creature that laid dead in front of Kratos. He spun around and saw a large, skin colored pink, bulky, muscular boar-like beast with huge tusks that came out of its mouth, glowing eyes that were that same kind of red white glow as the other creature, and a gaping maw filled with sharp fangs, a thick layer of red armour on it, covering its backs, legs, arms, and forehead, just charging at him. Kratos brought out his shield and said "Boy! Behin-"

But before he could finish, the beast slammed against his shield and managed to send him flying over Atreus's head. Kratos didn't land far from where his son was, but he was unable to get any closer as a ring of green fire appeared around Kratos. It was large, large enough to fight even a Troll, but it kept him from reaching Atreus. The beast was with his son, and as it began to stomp towards Atreus, something jumped off of the roof of the house and landed in front of Kratos. It was a tall, muscular, goat legged monster with slightly tan legs and hooves, its upper body was colored pink, long and thick black horns came out of the side of its head and pointed forwards, and its eyes glowed a bright green. The monster made a sound that sounded like a chuckle as it held up its right and and began to create a ball of green fire like the creature from before. Kratos grit his teeth, clenched his fists, and brought out his shield right as the monster threw the ball of fire at him. With the projectile blocked, Kratos got rid of his shield and recalled his Axe back into his hand. As he did, the monster charged towards Kratos and leaped up into the air to slam both its fists down on top of him.

The blade of the Axe grazed the monster's leg but it didn't faze it, what did was when Kratos somersaulted out of the way of its attack and quickly swung the Axe, hitting the monster's forearm and causing the axe to embed itself right into the muscular arm of the creature. Kratos attempted to pull the bald out of its arm, but before he could, the monster stood up bringing Kratos with it. He used this to his advantage as he pulled the blade out of its arm and quickly gripped onto its horns. He then quickly kicked the back of the monster's head causing it to lurch forwards in pain, but as it did, he used his grip on its head to force it to spin around and pass through the ring of fire and head towards Atreus and the beast. Atreus wasn't having that good of a time fighting the armored beast, he couldn't get behind it and attack its softer areas so his arrows just bounced off of it harmlessly. Even his magically enhanced ones just bounced off of it. But then, they both heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming their way and they both looked over to the sound and saw the large monster lumbering their way in pain.

Kratos quickly kicked the back of the monster's head once again, then he jumped up and slammed his feet against the back of its head causing it to fall over, right on top of the armored beast. With a sickening cracking sound its armor split apart and its organs splattered all over the place like squishing a berry with your fingers. Mimir, who was hanging off of a low hanging branch, said "That- That is disgusting."

The larger monster began to get up causing Kratos and Atreus to back up while it let out a deep growl of anger. Blood and some organs came off of its chest as it stood up, Kratos held up his Axe as Atreus knocked an arrow into place. Then, with an inedible cue, Atreus loosed the arrow and Kratos charged forwards. When the boy did loose the arrow he yelled out "þruma!"

Causing the lightning magic within the bowstring to activate, charging the arrow with the magical energies. The lightning arrow hit the monster's chest and lightning arched across its chest causing it to stagger backwards. As it did Kratos swung his Axe and hit the monster's leg, immediately afterwards he'd jump back and throw the Axe at the monster's head. It struck the side of the monster's head and it let out a roar of pain. Afterwards Kratos recalled the weapon and quickly somersaulted behind it as Atreus loosed another arrow, this time at his head, and yelled out "Ljósta!"

The light magic in the bowstring activated and when the arrow struck the monster's head, light exploded all in front of his face causing it to begin staggering backwards as it attempted to claw at the spots in his vision. This allowed Kratos to jump up and quickly climb up the back of the monster's back. Once on top of its shoulders, he leaped up into the air, spun around, and brought out his Axe just before coming down and embedding its blade right into the top of its forehead. As he continued to the ground Kratos brought the monster down with him before making it faceplant into the snow covered ground. He pulled the Axe out of its forehead and watched as blood came out of the wound. Three strange monsters dead, killed within the same half hour. They all gave off that same foreign feeling as the first. Despite that, he turned around to check up on Atreus. So as he did, he put the Axe away and knelt down to be on the boy's level "Atreus, are you alright?"

Atreus nodded before saying "That monster... I've never seen it before... Except.. I think I saw it in my nightmare."

Kratos glanced over to Mimir before saying "...I was afraid of that... Tell me, you said you saw somewhere here in Midgard in that nightmare.. Where was it?"

The boy thought about it a moment, before saying "It... Was in the mountain where we met Mimir.. But it was in a cave somewhere on the side of the mountain. I don't know where."

Mimir then spoke up from the tree branch "But I do! That mountain was a favorite spot for the Dwarves due to the Giants usually brining interesting materials from Jötunheim while building that gate up on the top of it. Even after the Giants disappeared, the Dwarves would visit the mountain. After a point they'd start building secret caches into the mountain to hide certain weapons and other treasures they made from everyone. What you could be talking about is one of our dear Dwarven friend's own caches."

Kratos stood up and looked over to Mimir "How do you know that?"

"I'm going to assume you mean me knowing it is one of Brok and Sindri's caches, well that has to do with the fact they had tried to convince Laufey to let them hide the Leviathan Axe inside of one of those caches when she died. Obviously, she declined. As for how I know that room that was connected to a cave has to be one of Brok and Sindri's caches is because they built that in the hopes of revitalizing that Giant mine you two, as far as I can tell, used to get up to the top of that mountain. But then they had that falling out and the revitalization effort fell through as well."

Atreus nodded "Yeah.. I think Mimir's right... What he said.. It just... Felt true."

Kratos took in a deep breath and contemplated the options. He could dismiss everyone coincidence and remain here, but he risked more of those monsters arriving to attack them. He didn't even know why they had come, and he couldn't deny he was curious to figure out the reason. But then they could go to the mountain and figure things out, an option that he did not like as he wanted to stop going on these sort of adventures. He just wants to move on, but it seems as if the world won't let him. Whether it is revenge from whatever forces control over fate now, or because he is a God. Kratos sighed "...We will head to the mountain. We will only go there to find out why it is these creatures decided to target us, and why Atreus's nightmare showed him that place. That is all."

Mimir then said "Sounds like that's all you plan on doing. Hate to break it to you, but every time you sounded like that a hundred and one things have pulled you in so many different directions than you would've liked."

Kratos just glared at the head before looking back over to Atreus "Boy.. Pack your things, we're heading back up the mountain."

Atreus, with a mixture of both excitement and shock, nodded and ran inside to get more arrows and other things needed for another trek through Midgard and up the side of the tallest mountain in the Realm. Meanwhile, far from view, a skull with horns that came out of the sides of its head and surrounded by flames was watching them. Once Atreus went inside, the skull turned around and flew away before entering through a strange red vortex that appeared instantly and disappeared once it went through. The vortex spit the skull out next to the large black creature that had walked out of the stone gate on the mountain Atreus, Kratos, and Mimir would be heading to. It floated up to the creature's ear and whispered what it had seen and heard to him. Once it finished, the creature grew a sinister smile on its face "So the mortals think they can stop me? Ha! Tell Xongran to mobilize his forces to block their path, no matter what, they can't find that chamber. But in case that insufferable fool fails, and tell him to make sure he has some of his men stacking out the chamber just in case as well..."

The tall monster began to stomp forwards "We must do all we can to ensure that he does not get released once again, no matter what."


	3. Chapter 3

Kratos stepped out of the house and held the door open for Atreus, who ran past and stopped not far from where the corpse of the larger pink skinned monster laid dead. After that, Kratos let the door shut as he said "Did you get everything you need?"

Atreus nodded "Yup! I've got my bow, my quiver and the arrows, my knife, and I even got some food to bring with us on the way just in case."

His father nodded before he motioned to the rubble that would magically form together and become one of the Mystic Gateways that were scattered all around the Nine Realms. While Kratos walked over to it and brought the Gateway to life, Atreus said "Would've been helpful if we could have used those during our adventure."

After that, Kratos opened the Gateway and they stepped into the Realm Between Realms, Yggdrasil the World Tree. While Midgard is cold, the branches of Yggdrasil felt colder. Not because of the temperature of the air around them, there was no air, whatever surrounds the World Tree itself gave off that cold feeling. Even still, Kratos and Atreus walked forwards waiting for the exit to Tyr's Temple appeared. As they did, the boy asked "Mimir, you said those monsters from before weren't from one of the Nine Realms.. But, how can that be possible? I thought there were no other Realms beyond those in Yggdrasil's branches."

Mimir answered with "I said that those monsters _might've_ been from beyond the Nine Realms. But that's besides the point, you see, the reason why I postulated that question was because there are Realms beyond the nine we can travel to!"

Just then, the exit appeared in front of them and Mimir said "Oh, remind me later to tell you about the Realms beyond the Realms."

Kratos and Atreus passed through the Gateway and exited out into Tyr's Temple, right in front of Brok and Sindri's joint forge. The smaller and bluer of the two, Brok, slammed his hammer down against the side of a still very heated blade "For fuck's sake Sindri! Just pick the damn thing up Sindri!"

Sindri sheepishly looked away from the wooden bucket he was standing over as he said "That's easy for you to say!"

Brok continued to hammer away at the blade as he said "For the love of-! You're wearing gloves! It can't get on that oily ass skin of yours!"

Sindri quickly spun around and pointed an accusing finger at Brok "I'll have you know that oil helps keep my skin from getting damaged from the heat of the fire!"

That's when Atreus spoke up "You two fight a lot."

Brok just rolled his eyes "Astute observation kid."

He looked back at Sindri "You know what, how about this, you take my fucking hammer and keep going while _I_ grab it."

Sindri smiled "That sounds like an excellent idea!"

The blue Dwarf just grumbled and shoved past Sindri as said Dwarf finally addressed the other two "It's been a while since we last saw you two, what brings you down here again? H- Hopefully not the Gods, that was.. That was a mess."

Kratos shot Sindri a bit of a glance making the Dwarf stop hammering and say "A- Alright, alright! I get it, I won't ask.."

Brok shoved his hand down into the bucket and pulled out what looked like some sort of organ and he returned back towards Sindri, as he did Atreus asked "What's that?"

The blue Dwarf stopped next to Sindri as the other picked up the blade and held it with its point aimed at Brok "This is the organ that Dragons use to generate their electricity"

Atreus cocked his head to the side a little "It looks so... Small."

Brok held the organ up and began to impale it on the blade while he hovered his hand just over it as he slid it down the blade "Oh yeah? Well Thor's hammer is smaller than your dad's axe and that thing kicks one hell of a punch!"

Atreus nodded a little "Yeah. I guess you're right... Hey, what are you doing with that sword anyways?"

Sindri had to look away from the sight before him, gagging a little as he did, but answered the boy's question anyways "We are trying to make a weapon as strong as Thor's hammer, yet as inauspicious as a quill."

Atreus made a little "huh" sound as Kratos finally spoke up "Boy, we have matters to attend to elsewhere. Let's get moving."

The boy nodded a little as he made his way back over to his father's side while the Ghost of Sparta manually opened the exit doors of the room they were in. Stepping outside, they both could hear the sound of Jörmungandr the World Serpent moving around in the distance. They both looked in that direction as the Serpent's head disappeared behind a mountain. This sight made Atreus ask "Wonder if Jörmungandr saw our fight.."

Kratos continued forwards as he said "I hope it did not."

Atreus followed after his father as they continued across the bridge towards the mountain they had so often returned to during their previous adventure. While they walked Atreus spoke up once more "Hey Mimir, you said something about the Realms beyond the Realms back in Yggdrasil?"

The severed head grinned a little "Ah! Yes, yes I was! You see, despite what many will tell you there _are_ Realms beyond our own nine traversable Realms. They're hard to get to, practically impossible even, but we know they exist as if you were to stand on the edge of one of Yggdrasil's and wait for probably an hour or so, you'd be able to see through the mist of the Void a very _very_ distant Realm or two.

Atreus looked over to Mimir as he asked "So.. Those monsters could've been from another Realm after all?"

"Possibly, or they could've been new creations of one of the Gods who got loose and found us."

Kratos then suddenly spoke up "All of this is impossible."

Mimir rolled his eyes as Atreus said "Well... But, Jörmungandr said that I feel familiar to him.. And Mimir said that him and Thor would have such a large fight they'd splinter the branches of the World Tree and throw Jörmungandr back in time... So... Why can't these monsters be from a Realm that isn't apart of the World Tree?"

Kratos looked over his shoulder and at his son as he said "Because no monster comes from beyond our understanding. I have fought all manor of beasts, and they were not unlike creatures I've fought before."

Atreus raised an eyebrow out of curiosity "How so?"

The Ghost of Sparta looked forwards once again as he answered "The larger creature that blocked me from you acted not unlike a beasts from my home land named Minotaurs. The first creature we encountered feasting on the animal reminded me of this land's Draugr. The creature you were forced to fight seemed to have acted very similar to various animals I've encountered here as well. They are not from beyond our reality, because they act like creatures from it."

Mimir quickly spoke up "Aye! Good point! Most beasts from beyond the World Tree don't act like how you'd expect 'em to! But, that also doesn't mean they _aren't_ from some Realm far beyond our own. Stranger things have happened... After all, you're here aren't you Kratos?"

He just grumbled a little as Mimir continued "Besides, the alternative is that they're monsters of a God's creation that either got lose or was sent for us... I don't know about you two, but I'd rather they be from a different Realm. At least then we know they're encounter with us was only accidental."

For a good long while after that they continued forwards in silence as they headed towards the mountain Atreus, Kratos, and more so Mimir, knew all to well. As they approached they grew closer, Kratos looked over to his son and asked "Atreus, your vision, where did it show you that chamber was hidden?"

Atreus just shrugged a little "I'm.. Not sure. It seemed like it was around the area we found Mimir, but it looked like a hole in the side of it as well.."

Mimir then said "Sounds like we've got a bit of climbing to do brother."

Kratos nodded "It does seem like that... Come boy.. We must continue."

The boy nodded as he followed Kratos forwards and towards the mountain. They hiked up the mountain, heading through the area the Black Breath had come out of, and after a point they quickly passed through the room Atreus had killed Modi in. But as they continued through the mountain's tunnels, they could feel the air begin to change. A strange sensation rolled over Atreus and Kratos as an unnatural hit them, upon this feeling Kratos stopped and made Atreus stop as well. He listened intently to the sounds that came from deeper within the tunnels, something was moving. Something was being dragged. Atreus whispered "What? Is something in here with us?"

Kratos was silent a moment before saying "No."

He then continued forwards. If they could manage it, he wanted them to avoid whatever that was in the deeper areas of the tunnel. They continued forwards for a while before eventually reaching the end of the tunnel they were currently heading down that also exited out into the abandoned Giant and Dwarf mine. Except, it wasn't abandoned anymore. Kratos peeked his head out from behind the tunnel's exit and saw that several of the same sort of creatures that had attacked them at their house, but there were also several new ones. But that wasn't all, there was also a strange structure resting on top of the large mine cart that was in the center of the chamber. It looked like a strange mass of flesh, organs, blood, bones, and many many more things of obvious organic things. The way it was structured made it look like a crescent, and floating in front of the crest like part of the object was a glowing sphere of some sort of strange magic that looked as clear as the waters of a river, but it had a strange red tint to it as well.

As Kratos examined the strange creation that was more than likely created by these monsters, Atreus peared out from behind his father and asked "What are those things? And, what is _that_ thing?"

He pointed to the creation of blood with that magical sphere possibly being created by that very thing as well. Kratos simply stared for a moment before returning to the comfort of hiding behind the grove in the cavern exit, moving Atreus back there as well, before saying "I do not know. But we must stay quiet. We don't know what they are all capable of, they could be more dangerous than we thought..."

He glanced back towards the mass of gore "And we do not know what _that_ can do either."

Before either of them could do anything else, one of those large red monsters stomped past their little hiding place completely unaware of Kratos and his son. Once it was safely away, Mimir spoke up "I agree with you all the way brother, but either way if we want to get to the bottom of this little mystery of ours we'll have to figure some way past them... Whether it be by making them meet the blade of your axe, or somehow sneaking past."

Atreus looked up to his father "What should we do?"

Kratos thought it over. He didn't know of any object in these lands that could make them invisible, and there was no telling whether or not these monsters wouldn't be able to see through it. It seemed as if there was only one option in this situation "Atreus.. Ready your bow, stay as far away from them as possible, and do what I say."

Mimir raised an eyebrow "Huh, shouldn't be surprised that you're going with a head first type of strategy."

Atreus meanwhile nodded and pulled out his bow and pulled an arrow out of his quiver "Alright, I will father."

Kratos himself nodded before pulling out the Leviathan Axe. He took in a breath and stepped out into the open, once clearly visible, he brought out his shield and quickly banged his Axe against it while yelling as loud as he could muster. Every creature in the chamber turned their heads and glared at Kratos before one of those boar like monsters roared out and charged towards him. As all of the attention fell onto Kratos, Atreus quickly ran out from the area he and his father was hiding behind before and ran just far enough away from the monsters to be safe yet still be helpful. Kratos grit his teeth and charged towards the boar like beast as various other monsters sprung into action. The five or so large red ones all began to charge as well, several of the smaller and slender beasts that could throw balls of fire all scrambled in different directions, and various other creatures Kratos couldn't get a good look at all began to charge at him as well.

The Ghost of Sparta would be quick to pull out his shield and force the boar like beast to ram against it before quickly stepping to the side and bringing his axe down into the softer folds of its backside. While the blood sent up by the attack lingered in the air one of the large red monsters leaped up into the air, its fists covered in green fire and ready to bring them down on top of Kratos. Quickly, he pulled his axe out of the beast and brought his shield out to block this pounding attack. The red monster's feet landed in just the right way to send the boar like beast flying away due to the impact while the red one's hands came crashing down onto the shield with a thunderous bang, that same green fire blasting in all sorts of directions from the impact. Before Kratos could retaliate Atreus yelled out "Father look out!"

He looked over his shoulder and saw a monster that resembled the red ones, but wasn't larger than them yet still stood taller than the Ghost of Sparta, its skin was almost colored like a human's own tanned skin, strangely enough it seemed to have most of its skull visible but lacked any sort of eye sockets or eyes in general, charging towards him. It let out a roar as it got closer and seemed to prepare itself to try and tackle Kratos, but the Ghost of Sparta was quick to shove the still slamming fists of the red monster off of his shield before rolling away, causing the two beasts to collide together. As another one of the large monsters attempted to slam its fist down onto Kratos, using its advantage of being behind him, Atreus quickly aimed his bow at it and yelled out "Ljósta!"

He then let the arrow loose and the light magic activated upon impact with monster's head causing it to go blind for a moment. Knowing that an enemy was behind him from the sounds it now made, Kratos quickly stood up and spun around before swinging his axe and embedding it right into the monster's leg, making it let out a pained roar. While the previous two monsters that had tried to attack him began to stagger onto their feet, Kratos brought his axe out of the blinded monster's leg and was quick to leap up and slam against his torso forcing the beast over and onto its back. Now on top of it, Kratos was about to bring his axe down in between the beast's eyes when he suddenly heard some sort of guttural roar come from behind him. He looked over his shoulder and saw a strange floating monster that was colored dark brown, looked like it was covered in warts, had various horns on the top of its head with two long ones coming out of the side of its body, two arms with hands that only had three fingers, one singular red eye, and a large mouth. This beast would then proceed to open that mouth and fire what looked like a goat skull covered in fire at him.

Kratos had to bring his shield back out to block the attack, but once the skull struck his shield, there was a powerful blast that sent him flying off of the red monster and tumblring across the stone cavern. While he attempted to get up, various beasts all began to converge towards him while Mimir said "We aren't really getting anywhere going about things like this!"

Those monsters quickly surrounded Kratos as their powerful hands began to punch, claw, pull, and stab at his skin, clothes, and equipment. Pain flowed through his body, he could see his own blood beginning to roll down the sides of his body, some of the monsters even brought their fingers up to their mouths to lick off whatever they peeled off of him, sadistic pleasure appearing in their faces once they were rewarded with the taste of either his flesh or blood. Atreus watched as his father was being pummeled into the ground by those monsters, he loosed some arrows at the hoard which only caused some of them to turn their attention away from them at towards the boy. As that happened, one of those slender monsters reached down and was quick to yank Mimir off of Kratos's waist making the head let out a yelp of shock as it happened. Kratos's entire body began to grow hot, the air around them began to boil, _steam_ rose off of the Ghost of Sparta's body, he clenched his fists so tight his knuckles went white, and in one powerful motion, he stood up and let out a yell of complete rage as actual fire appeared on his body from his Spartan Rage.

The monsters that had once surrounded him were blasted away by the heat and the energy of the eruption of Kratos's rage. One monster began to get up to its feet when Kratos leaped forwards and punched its face so hard it came out of the back of its own head sending brain matter, blood, and bone all over the ground. Kratos then leaped towards the monsters who were still approaching Atreus. He grabbed the closest one to him, lifted it off of its feet, spun around, and threw it at the next beast before charging forwards and grabbing the back of both their skulls to smash them against each other, reducing their heads to red masses of gore. He then charged towards the last beast and before it could lay a finger on Atreus, Kratos plunged his hand into the beast's back and yanked out its entire spine and even its skull before spinning around and throwing it at one of the floating brown creatures. The spin and skull broke into several tiny pieces once it hit the monster but it did enough to stun it to allow Kratos to leap up into the air and physically blow through the entirety of the beast's body blasting it in half when he did.

Once landing on the ground, covered in a mixture of his own blood and these monster's blood, Kratos let out another yell and the monsters that remained all began to scramble away from him, all aside from the red ones and their smaller variations. One of the tanned beasts charged towards Kratos and he was quick to maneuver in just the right way to grip it into a headlock that allowed him to throw it at another one of the tanned beasts. With them both on the ground, a red monster threw a ball of green fire at Kratos and he simply took the attack before leaping up and gripping its horns with both his hands. He planted his feet firmly against the monster's chest and used that leverage to pull its horns out of its head. He threw one of the horns right at the tanned beast and said horn spun through the air like his axe and once it hit the the monster's head, it embedded itself into the beast's head, piercing its brain, and making it go limp on top of its brethren. Kratos then proceeded to return his attention to the monster those horns were torn out of. He plunged the point of the horn through the monster's head and through its brain much like the tanned monster before. While _it_ fell limp, Kratos jumped off of it and landed on the ground in front of another one of the red monsters.

Kratos quickly stood up as the red beast loomed over him. He could feel his Spartan Rage depleting, he had to kill this last beast as quickly as possible. So, he leaped up into the air and slammed against it, sending it flying through the air and through the mass of gore that had caught Kratos's attention first back before the fight broke out. They both slammed against the ground and Kratos's Spartan Rage depleted. The Ghost of Sparta got up to his feet and groaned as he felt his muscles tense up out of exhaustion and pain. He grit his teeth, pulled out his axe, and quickly brought it down on the monster's neck, cutting its head right off. With all of the threats either gone or dead, Kratos let out a sigh of relief and returned his axe to its holding place. As he stood up right once again, Atreus ran over to him "Father, are you alright?!"

He took in a breath and used his ability to regenerate from his God status to mend his wounds before nodding "Yes. I am fine."

Atreus let out a sigh of relief before realizing something "Wait, where's Mimir!?"

"I'm over here!"

They both turned around and saw that Mimir was currently laying on his side next to the corpse of one of the monsters. Both Atreus and Kratos made their way over to him before the Ghost of Sparta picked him up and secured him to his waist once more "Thanks brother."

Atreus looked over to the corpse before returning his attention to Mimir "What even happened to him?"

"Well, after that bugger nicked me off of your da, ol' Kratos's explosive rage must've sent a large enough chunk of rock right through that fowl being's skull cuz one second he was standing then the next he wasn't!"

While Kratos began to move forwards, Mimir was able to catch a sight of where that mass of gore once stood "Seems like you made quick work of whatever that was.. Don't suppose you actually figured out what it did?"

Kratos shook his head "No. I didn't."

That's when suddenly Atreus, who had wandered behind the large crate, yelled out "Father! Come look at this!"

Kratos made his way over to where the boy was and saw that there was what looked like a circular outline of blood painted on the wood of the crate. Atreus inspected this outline while he asked "It feels pretty magic to me... I wonder if it's some sort of portal we have to open?"

Mimir hummed a little "Could be possible, after all, the only things we know about those creatures is that they smell and like blood."

That stuck with Atreus "like blood"... He looked at his left palm a moment before unwrapping the leather that covered it and pulling out his knife. Kratos saw this and knelt down next to his son "What are you planning?"

Atreus rested the blade against his palm "They like blood. They use it to, seemingly, make things... So what if a blood sacrifice has to be made to open this portal?"

Mimir was quick to speak up "While you might not be wrong, let's not forget that there's no telling where this portal will take us! For all we know, it could drop us right into the void!"

Atreus thought about it. He took in a breath and whispered to himself "Both mother and father told me to trust my instincts... Trust my instincts.."

He then quickly slid the blade across his skin and cut it deep enough to not leave lasting damage but definitely draw blood. Atreus winced a little as it happened but once it was over he reached his hand out and placed it in the middle of the outline. He left it lingering there a moment before pulling it away and sheathing his knife. Kratos would then reach into his bag and pull out some bandages to wrap around Atreus's hand. While he worked on covering the boy's wound, Mimir saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was the remains of that mass of gore, but, part of it was pulsating like a heart was beating behind it... Only... It was getting slower. He squinted a little as he asked "Hey Kratos... Did you stop to think that maybe that big thing of gore might just have been important to those monsters and what might happen if we destroyed it?"

Kratos furrowed his brow as he finished Atreus's bandage before looking over to the remains. The pulsating continued to get slower and slower while Kratos stood up. Then, it stopped. There was an air of silence and uncertainty as neither the portal nor the remains of the mass of gore did anything. When suddenly whatever was pulsating exploded and a geyser of blood erupted out of where it once was, the screams of a thousand beings rang out all around them before all at once it ended. At the same time, the outline of blood on the crate began to glow confirming what Atreus had theorized. But then there was a bright flash of reddish orange light just in front of them as something teleported in right in front of them. It was a hideous beast, it stood roughly a few inches shorter than the large red beasts that laid dead around the chamber, its skin was the color of ever ordinary man but it strange bits of metal attached to its skin with a strange metallic object lodged in the middle of its chest, the beast's arms were some sort of metallic weapon that had something attaching the weapons' ends to some more metal on its back, it had two large teeth like that of a Troll, it was hideously overweight, and a stench unlike any other came off of it.

This new beast let out a guttural roar before hitting its two weaponized arms together and aiming them at Kratos and Atreus. Atreus himself got behind Kratos as he brought out his shield to block the blast of fire that came out of the ends of the weapons. Mimir had an obvious look of fear on his face "This is not good! We just got done dealing with a whole chamber of these twats and now back up arrives?!"

Kratos just grit his teeth and yelled out "Atreus! Is the portal open yet?!"

Atreus glanced over his shoulder and saw that the glow of the outline was getting brighter "Not yet!"

This made the Ghost of Sparta grunt in frustration. He was cornered. This beast could continue blasting fire at them for seemingly ever while Kratos was stuck in place defending his son. Luckily, Atreus came up with an idea. He quickly ran towards the crate and jumped up to climb up its side. Once on top he pulled out an arrow, yelled out "þruma!"

And let his lighting arrow fire right at the left metallic arm of the beast. Electricity was sent all over its body as the metal began to conduct it through its entire body. This made it stop blasting its fire and allowed Kratos to retract his shield and charge forwards, pulling out his axe as he did. In one quick motion he jumped up and struck the beast in the side of its head before landing on the ground behind it. With the electrical shock now long gone, it slammed its weaponized arms down against the ground and sent out a blast of flames that forced Kratos back. As his father engaged the monster, Atreus looked over the edge of the crate and saw that the outline was even brighter than before and some sort of particle was coming off of it now. Kratos rolled out of the way of another fire blast before throwing his axe at the beast and quickly recalling it once contact was made. Despite its looks the beast's skin was thick and sturdy. It was going to take more than his axe to kill it. This forced Kratos's hand. He quickly put his axe back where it belonged before reaching behind his back and pulling out his Blades of Chaos. In several fluid motions Kratos lashed the chained blades out at the beast and was able to pierce its skin several times resulting in it staggering back in pain.

Atreus even shot some arrows at its face hoping to hit one if its eyes if he got lucky enough. But during one of Kratos's swings the beast was able to hit Kratos with a blast of fire that sent him backwards and into the crate, right where the outline was. He was quick to recover, but because of the force of the attack and the roughness of the crate's wood the attack actually drew some blood. What he didn't realize was that the new splotches of blood that ended up inside of the outline caused the process to speed up and the portal to open up as he was able to retaliate against the beast. Atreus saw this though and yelled out "Father! It's open!"

Kratos looked back over to the crate and saw just that "Atreus, go!"

He returned his attention to the beast and continued to attack as Atreus jumped down and ran through the portal. Once his son was through, Kratos quickly spun around and began to run towards the portal, but just before heading through he spun around, threw one of the blades, hit the heart that the metal piece in the center of its chest was protecting, yanked on it, and went through the portal all in a matter of a few seconds. As Kratos came out the other end of the portal, his blade pulled the beast's heart out of its chest and through the portal as well. Said blade and heart landed on the ground harmlessly as the portal closed, trapping them somewhere completely new. While Kratos picked up his blade and began to remove the heart, Atreus looked around and realized something "Hey, this is where we first fought that Dragon!"

As Kratos let the heart fall to the ground he walked over to his son's side and sheathed his blades. What Atreus said was true, they were currently standing in one of the various door ways they had passed by while ascending this shaft on a lift just minutes before encountering that Dragon for the first time. With nothing more to see, Kratos turned around and began to make his way deeper into the are they had found themselves "Come boy. We have no way to go up, so we must go forwards."

Atreus turned around and followed his father deeper into the unknown in search of that sarcophagus and the answers to the new questions that were posed to them.


	4. Chapter 4

Their footsteps echoed through the empty carved stone tunnel they had found themselves in after jumping through a portal in search of answers. Kratos found it downright disturbing just how often he was _forced_ into seaking answers to questions that shouldn't even exist in the first place. With the secrets Laufey hid from him, he could understand, even he didn't tell her about what he had done in Greece before arriving in Scandinavia. But, now that he is being forced to deal with beings who are supposedly from beyond the World Tree, he came to despise this need for answers.

Atreus meanwhile, was busy inspecting the various etchings he found in the walls of the tunnel. Kratos never got to view the world the same way Atreus did. Yes, he was forced to grow quick due to the way they lived, but unlike the brutal lifestyle of Spartans, Atreus wasn't being trained since he could walk to become a soldier. Kratos only trained him in the art of survival, something Atreus has proven himself to have a good grasp on, but still needs work at times. The boy was scarred, he'd seen many disturbing things during both this journey and their last one, but he was still a child. He saw the world different than Kratos.

While their footsteps continued to echo through the tunnel, Atreus looked over to his father and asked "Father?.. Have you seen any Draugrs recently?"

Kratos was silent a moment. He thought about it before answering his son's question without moving his head or eyes "No. I have not. Why do you ask?"

Atreus shrugged "Well.. I've been thinking. If these monsters _are_ from beyond the World Tree, and we don't know what they want from us, what if they have somehow taken control of the Draugrs and other creatures that _are_ from the World Tree?"

The Ghost of Sparta continued walking in silence. The only noises that could be heard from him came from his footsteps and the various clanging sounds his equipment made as his body moved. After a moment, he finally spoke up "It's best we not dwell on those thoughts. No matter where they are from, these creatures are foreign and their motives are mysterious.. We can not spend time contemplating those things."

Atreus nodded a little "Yeah... I guess."

Silence returned to them as they continued walking forwards deeper and deeper into the mountain, they had no clue what they'd find in this tunnel. But what they didn't expect was when the sound of something moving far ahead of them could be heard. Reacting instinctually, Kratos quickly pulled out his axe and took an aggressive stance. They stood there a moment and saw nothing, so Kratos eased up and put his axe back where it belonged. He sighed a little and motioned for Atreus to follow him once more. Continuing forwards once more, they'd eventually encounter a set of stone stairs that lead upwards a few steps before turning to the left and presumably doing the same thing again for another few steps to conserve space within mountain. Before Kratos could begin to scale these steps, Atreus noticed something and said "I think that thing we heard was a rat."

Kratos looked over to his son "How so?"

Atreus pointed to what looked like some sort of nest "Rats make nests sometimes. Usually in dark places. This place is pretty dark, so they made a nest here."

It was true. If Kratos did not have the Bifrost to illuminate their surroundings they'd be in almost pitch black darkness this deep within the mountain's tunnels. Ultimately though, Kratos just nodded a little and continued forwards with Atreus following him. While they walked Atreus spoke up "Mimir, why is it the mountain has all of these tunnels and chambers in it?"

The head cracked a bit of a grin "We already know that Dwarves are mischievous little things, and Giants have a knack for misdirection, so when you give them a space to hoard and collect their valuables they'll try their damndest to use those skills to the best of their abilities. So these tunnels and chambers are an amalgamation of Dwarven traps and Giant illusion magic."

Atreus looked over to Mimir and took on a confused expression "Giants had illusion magic?"

"Aye, they did! The reason we haven't seen much of it over the course of our little adventures is probably because when the Giants left their magic disappeared too.. Either that or the death of those who created the spells canceled them out permanently."

The boy held up his hands a little and looked at them "Does that mean... I can do illusion magic? Could mother perform illusion magic?"

Kratos was quick to speak up "Your mother wasn't one for misdirection or illusions. She much more prefered practical things over what didn't exist."

Mimir then said "That's the thing about the Giant's illusions, they're often so well crafted they're practically real. For all you know, a lot of the things Fey made could've been illusions."

Kratos stayed silent while Mimir addressed Atreus's question "But little brother, I'm not quite sure what you inherited from your Giant blood. It could be possible that you inherited illusion magic, or maybe the powers of your father's side of your godly hood is more dominant than your mother's. After all, the traits of _the God of War_ probably fought to be more dominant than a Giant's traits."

When the head mentioned that title, Kratos's hands tightened into fists and Mimir grimmenced a little. Once he finished speaking, and after a few seconds of silence, he said "Sorry."

Although Kratos didn't unclench his fists, he just seemed less offended which was reassuring to Mimir. After another moment of silence Atreus spoke up once more "So... How would I find out what my powers and abilities are?"

The head answered with "Not sure. But we've already seen a power or two of yours, like your ability to catch up on the languages of any creature you meet."

Atreus thought about it for a moment... He was able to know what Brok's animal said, and he was able to quickly call for help from Jörmungandr while fighting Freya and Baldur "Huh... Cool!"

"Aye, a God without powers is like an ox with no horns."

Upon finishing that little chat, Kratos and Atreus would reach the end of both sets of stairs and find themselves staring down a wall. Kratos grimminced a little "It's a dead end.. We'll have to find another way around."

He then turned around to leave, but as he did Atreus suddenly thought about something "...Illusion magic..."

After another moment of thinking, Atreus pulled out an arrow and aimed it right at the middle of the wall. He took in a breath, hoping he was right, and yelled out "Ljósta!"

He let the arrow fly and it flew straight through the wall causing it to dissolve into tiny flakes before they too dissolved into nothing like ashes. Kratos had noticed what his son was doing, so once he saw the wall dissolve into nothing he made a little sound akin to "hm" before placing his hand on the boy's shoulder for just a moment as he walked past. Atreus cracked a bit of a grin and he slid his bow over his body while following his father forwards. The corridor they found themselves walking down slowly got narrower and narrower as they approached an exit. They passed through the exit and found themselves in an octagon shaped room that was around the same size as the secret chambers Kratos and Atreus had found the imprisoned Valkyries in. Kratos inspected the chamber before saying "Head, is this another one of Odin's secret chambers?"

Mimir glanced around at what he could see himself before answering "Not sure... Could've been possible that when the Giants were still in Midgard Odin somehow convinced them to create him a chamber but before they left they used illusionary magic to hide it from him."

Atreus felt a little uneasy as he stood within the dark chamber that was large enough that the light of the Bifrost couldn't illuminate it all "But... Where is the Valkyrie? I thought every one of Odin's chambers had one imprisoned inside of it.."

"It... Could be possible that because of the illusion Odin had to hold her somewhere else..."

Kratos clenched his fists "This room is useless to us. Come, we must go."

They turned around and was about to leave, but before they could the floor in front of the exit suddenly burst into flames as a strange echoing voice rang around the room "Leaving so soon all might God of War? I thought you were a being of rage, not intelligence."

The voice was course, rough, and gravily. Like sharp, hot, lava rocks could speak. Kratos turned to face the chamber as he took an aggressive stance "Who are you!? Show yourself!"

Two eyes that looked like spheres of fire opened up in the darkness at the back of the chamber, they stared at Kratos as the voice spoke up once more "Kratos... Who I am doesn't matter, what does is who you are trying to find."

Whatever owned those eyes began to walk forwards as Kratos and Atreus pulled out their weapons. While they did that, Atreus asked "Are you one of those monsters in the mine?!"

"Yes, I am. I lead those lesser Demons into this very mountain after our general alerted us to your arrival. Once again, what you seek to find will bring nothing good to anyone."

Kratos clenched the pommel of the Leviathan Axe tightly in his hand as he said through gritted teeth "We will find whoever you are trying to hide from us! Regardless of what consequences it will bring!"

Finally, the creature, or Demon, that the eyes belonged to came into the light of the Bifrost and revealed itself to have grey skin, but from its forearms to the tips of its fingers was black as though they had been burned in a fire, strange armor like yet organic plates were placed over its chest, a mouth of sharp teeth with no lips could be seen, its over all body looked like it was bone, and horns came out of the Demon's knees. It stood just a few inches taller than Kratos, but nowhere near as close to the height of the tanned Demons and definitely nowhere near the height of the red Demons. Those eyes of fire glared into Kratos's as it said "By all means.. Find his chamber, scale the insides of this mountain in search of an exit that doesn't exist, you will only fail. But that doesn't matter... Because I, Xongran, was only ordered to kill the three of you!"

Xongran spread his legs out into a wide stance as he raised his hands into the air. He stared up at the stone ceiling of the chamber as unseen cracks in the black areas of his body began to glow like veins of lava before fire burst into being on his arms and legs. Xongran would then begin to bring his hands down in front of his chest, the palms of the hands only inches apart, and a yellow energy began to build up in between them. Kratos quickly moved his son behind him and brought out his shield before Xongran shoved his hands out, palms facing Kratos, and the yellow energy blasted forwards like a blade. It struck Kratos's shield and he was pushed back a little before he retracted his shield "Atreus, quickly, get out of his reach!"

The boy was quick to sprint away from Xongran and Kratos. If the Demon's body wasn't on fire, the light of the Bifrost wouldn't reach where he was now. Once Atreus was out of reach Kratos began to circle Xongran and the Demon did the very same. The Demon moved his fingers randomly, clenching, curling, extending, and rubbing against each other as he grinned at the Ghost of Sparta "We've watched you since we set our sights on this reality... You are an odd one... A mortal turned God out of sheer rage... We knew we'd have to be stronger, so we bred our soldiers to be stronger, tougher, quicker... Sadly it seems they didn't grow in intelligence seeing as how you are standing before me."

Kratos wasn't one for talking during combat, so all he did was growl a little at the Demon before charging and attempting to hit him with the axe only for Xongran to quickly slid out of the way by using blasts of fire as some sort of propulsion. Once off to the side he blasted Kratos with fire that forced him away from the Demon. Luckily Atreus fired a few arrows Xongran's way, distracting him enough to let Kratos step forwards and bring the axe down across the Demon's chest. He let out a shrill roar of pain as the apparently completely bone chest plates had a deep cut forced into them. Xongran quickly brought his hands back up into the air and created a ring of fire around him, forcing Kratos away. The Ghost of Sparta attempted to throw the Leviathan Axe at Xongran through the fire but it had to be some sort of magic as when it made contact with the fire the direction of the axe's flight was forced upwards and away from Xongran entirely.

Kratos recalled the axe to his hand as Xongran used his his flames to levitate himself up into the air over the circle of fire. He let out another shrill roar before making a hand motion like he was tearing something in half. As he did the ground in front of Kratos began to crack and split apart, red energy arched off of the crack as it appeared. Once large enough, several of those thin Demons climbed out of the crack and began to attack. Four took to the back of the room to throw balls of fire at him while three charged towards Kratos attempting to swipe their claws at him. He was able to block a few of the attacks but couldn't get them all due to how fast these Demons moved. He was able to find a window of attack and brought his axe down on the head of one of the Demons causing it to go limp instantly but a ball of fire from one of the ones in the back struck his shoulder and he was forced to defend once again. Luckily for him Atreus saw all of this and began to fire arrows at the Demons.

One of them was hit in the shoulder by Atreus's arrows while the rest scurried away to better hiding spots. The one that was hit growled at the boy and charged forwards, but Atreus just threw his bow behind him and charged towards it, his knife drawn. Atreus quickly ducked under the Demon's attempt to claw at him before stabbing his abdomen with his knife. The Demon let out a yelp of pain before Atreus ran behind him, dragging his knife across the Demon's side as he did. Once behind him he quickly jumped up and got onto the Demon's shoulders and begin stabbing him anywhere his knife could pierce, which resulted in various stabs to the back of the Demon's head as well as some on his neck. Eventually Atreus was able to find the sweet spot and actually pierced the brain of the creature causing it to die instantly and to fall over just as quickly. Before the body hit the ground Atreus got off and rolled towards his bow, as he stood up he picked his weapon up and grabbed an arrow to fire at one of the few Demons that remained.

Meanwhile, Kratos kicked one of the Demons so hard in its chest that every organ in its chest burst out its backside and it fell to the ground groaning out in pain as it slowly died. While that happened one of the Demons jumped up onto Kratos's back and attempted to claw at his eyes, but all this accomplished was Kratos jumping up and crushing the Demon onto the ground with his back. He was quick to stand back up as the last Demon that had attempted to attack Kratos in close combat stood there, clearly uneasy. Kratos simply pulled out his axe and brought it down through the Demon's head, while pulling it out Atreus killed the last of the Demons that had scurried away and Xongran's ring of fire dissipated. He charged forwards towards Kratos at such a speed that the Ghost of Sparta simply had to bring out his shield and block the attacks and swipes that Xongran sent his way.

After a few moments of just blocking Kratos was able to finally thrust his shield forwards as a counter attack before attacking Xongran himself. His axe swings were quick and heavy, only a few hit, and those that did left deep gashes in the Demon's body that bled. Once again, Xongran had to create a ring of fire around him once again to keep himself safe. Yet again, Xongran lifted himself off of the ground before raising his hands skyward as he yelled "RISE!"

Then, the bodies of the once dead Demons began to shudder and stand up. Kratos grit his teeth as he backed away from one of the corpses. Atreus looked over to his father, worry in his face "Father?"

He looked around and saw that _everyone_ of the Demons were rising from the dead. They had no other option at this moment "Boy, call for help."

Immediately, Atreus knew what his father meant. He backed up a few steps, jumped up into the air, pulled back an arrow on his bow string, and yelled out "Ulfr hlaup!"

He let the arrow fly, lightning magic coursing through it, and when it struck the ground several large wolves made up of lightning all burst into being. They all let out howls before charging towards the resurrected Demons. While the chamber went into almost complete chaos as the wolves chased after every Demon in sight, Kratos put his axe away before pulling out the Blades of Chaos, he held them in his hands tightly, waiting for the moment to strike. That moment presented itself when one of the wolves bit down on a Demon's head and began to drag it across the ground, this distracted all other Demons as they realized the danger they were in, and it let Kratos throw one of the blades through the air and right at Xongran. It struck him in his chest and gave Kratos the leverage he could use to yank Xongran right out of his ring of fire and back into range for further battle.

Xongran tumbled across the ground once he connected with it, and as he stood up Kratos was quick to swing both of the blades through the air to bring them down across his face. They both hit and left deep cuts across his pale bone like skin, but all he did was let out a growl before getting up to his feet where he'd proceed to blast fire at Kratos, but he simply rolled out of the way before charging forwards and giving Xongran a swift kick to his side. The Demon would be knocked to the ground but was quick to get up before having his face met with more attacks from the Blades of Chaos. After several swings that left Xongran without the ability to attack, Kratos threw one of the blades at Xongran and it pierced his shoulder, using this Kratos pulled the Demon towards him before kicking him away once more. This kick pulled him right off of the blade and sent him tumbling across the floor. But before he could get up, one of the few remaining wolves charged towards him and took his arm into its mouth and started to pull.

The Demon stood his ground and prevented the wolf from tearing his arm off or dragging him around, but this gave Kratos the ability to charge forwards and uppercut Xongran directly in his face. The force of the punch pulled Xongran out of the wolf's mouth and sent him up into the air, as Xongran flew the rune magic that made the wolves finally dissipated and they all disappeared. The Demon would hit the ground and groan as he felt blood trickle down from his forehead, but then Kratos would suddenly charge forwards and knee Xongran in his face once more. This time the Demon was sent flying into a wall and just as quickly as those two melee attacks came, the Leviathan Axe struck Xongran in his chest and froze him to the wall, that ice even covered his hands to prevent him from creating any fires. Kratos stomped towards the Demon, his fists clenched, once close enough he pulled back one of those fists and was about to punch Xongran when Atreus said "Father no!"

Kratos looked over to his son as he continued "What if he's the _only one_ who can lead us to the cave?"

Xongran suddenly choked out some laboured laughter "The boy is right o' great God of War! I'm the one creature that can get you to what you seek.."

This sealed it for Kratos. He returned his attention to the Demon before punching a hole in the wall next to his head, to the point there was a bit of a scrap mark from where Kratos's knuckles brushed against Xongran's head "Demon... You will take us there, and maybe you will get to live."

Xongran glanced from Kratos's stoic face to the muscular arm that was only inches away from his face "It- It's a deal, release me and take me to the spot where the pentagram is etched in ash, I can open a portal for you there."

Kratos took his fist out of the wall before gripping ahold of the Leviathan Axe and pulling it out of Xongran's chest. He fell but before he hit the ground Kratos grabbed his shoulder and started to drag him towards the back of the chamber, the light of the Bifrost illuminating their way as he did. Eventually Kratos came across a strange shape on the ground, a circle with a strange looking star in it with various other runes all around inside of both those symbols. Xongran then held his hand out and the cracks in that hand's arm started to glow and so too did the ashy burn marks that made up the shape. Steam rose off of the lines before suddenly a glowing green portal burst into being over the "pentagram" shape. Kratos let go of Xongran and the Demon fell to his hands and knees while Kratos motioned for Atreus to follow him towards the portal. But the Ghost of Sparta was forced to stop walking when Xongran began to stand and cough "Our little deal is through God of War! Once you step through that portal, I will be free to alert my master of your location and you will _die_!"

Kratos looked over to the Demon as he finally got up to his feet "Very well."

Xongran grinned and turned around to leave, but before he could walk more than three steps, Kratos threw the Leviathan Axe right into the back of the Demon's head. As soon as it hit, Kratos recalled the axe and Xongran fell to the ground. He put the axe back into place before returning his attention to the portal "Come boy, our answers lie ahead."

Mimir could see the body of Xongran laying on the ground, and that prompted him to say "You know... What if that bugger's tricking us? For all we know he could be dropping us right off the side of the mountain, into the fires of Muspelheim, or even into the void of the World Tree!"

Kratos stared at the portal and Atreus looked over to his father for an answer. After a silent moment the Ghost of Sparta finally spoke "We will take our chances."

With that, the two stepped through the portal and left the chamber within the mountain.


End file.
